Whatever happened to the “Texas miracle,” where the "modern conservative theory...

Whatever happened to the “Texas miracle,” where the "modern conservative theory about budgeting" - never raise taxes, and budgets can always be balanced by cutting waste - supposedly worked, Paul Krugman asks. Texas may now have a $25B hole to fill, so "if the theory can’t make in Texas," he says, "it can’t make it anywhere."

Paul, did you put your glasses on so you can see more than one layer deep? The whole issue with Texas has as much to do with an economy on life support as it does with the old-Socialist or new-progressive theory about spending and entitlements.

It's generally not about cutting waste. At the state and federal levels these days, it's usually about needing to trim entitlement benefits to really solve the problem. Pensions, Medicare, Welfare, Social Security: these are all problems that need to be solved by re-aligning benefits to what's reasonable given today's economics and life expectancies. No amount of raising taxes will solve them, regardless of what Krugman wants.

And let me guess: Krugman wouldn't want to broaden the tax base. Instead, he'd want to only raise taxes on the "rich". A narrow tax base causes all sorts of issues, also, as we've seen in states like California.

Why do the editors at SA print everything that Krugman writes like little lap dogs? Does he own this site or is he just paying for the space?There is a story by him here every day. No other writer gets as much space here. I don't see Wall Street Journal editorials here every day. Why the distinction?I know he generates controversy, but C'mon man.

"Why do the editors at SA print everything that Krugman writes like little lap dogs". I can't believe an American said that. This is a forum for ideas both bullish/bearish conservative or liberal. It would be just as bad to eliminate Roubini's thoughts as it would Krugmans. It is SA's responsiblity to post all sides of any given story. That is the American way. There has been a lot of people die for that right. And, I have very strong feelings that Krugman/Roubini et al have the right to express they thoughts and the press (SA included) has the obligation to print those thoughts.

Calm down.. You missed the point. They don't print every word written by anyone else. Speaking of Roubini, can you tell me that he gets as much press on SA as Krugman? You don't see an article by him every day.

Yeah, Krugman's idea of a "success" is a stimulus that borrows nearly a trillion dollars to get an unemployment rate near 10% for 2 years. He and his fellow travellers claim things would have been worse if this hadn't been done, but there is obviously no way to test their claim. Very well, then. Cannot the counter-claim be made that Texas would be MUCH worse off if they practiced what Krugman and his cronies peddle instead of doing it their way? There is no way to test this claim, either.

There is no need to go to a farm for bulls**t as long as there are newspaper pundits.

Another of Krugman's points that deserves a "so what?" response is his comment about Texas' per-pupil school spending being among the lowest in the country. Time and time again, we've seen that states with some of the highest per-pupil spending don't have any results to show for it – other than enriching their unions to the tune of billions of dollars of unsustainable pensions and benefits, so why does Texas deserve criticism for their school spending strictly based on dollar amount?

Baeck, this is Krugmans way of saying that there is not enough unionization of the Texas schools. Its his "Lets bring the NY and CA unions to Texas" so we can screw up those kids just like the east and west. Have you ever seen a leftie not advocating the spending of more money on schools even its not needed or wanted?

Having only a superficial understanding of economics Krugman makes yet another specious argument. In a recession all boats can be expected to sink - that's not a revelation. If Texas conservatism is the "cause" of their deficit, then how does he explain NY, Illinois, CA, and the rest of the worst states run by liberals? Of course he can't. The real issue here is structural, and Krugman will see it come to the fore when things turn up. Texas will recover while Krugman's liberal bastions will bounce along the bottom and continue to see a population exodus. Of course he'll still be completely clueless when that time comes.

Krugman real point is that he is pissed that some states are faring better than the socialist states in the USA and this goes against his politics. He should be writing for the Moscow Times. Oh sorry, he does.

Krugman falls in a strange class of people with members like Pelosi, Frank, and Reich. They are usually the laughing stock of their profession, and the Butt of bad jokes.What makes this strange is that none of them see themselves as anything other than Gods gift to the science.